Solar energy developer and manufacturer Solar Power, Inc. (SOPW) announced today that the company will build its 100,000 sq ft, 50 mW capacity solar panel plant at the McClellan Business Park in Sacramento County, California. The company settled on Sacramento earlier this month as the home for its new facility and has plans to build a 10 mW solar farm in the county as well.
Why Sacramento in the first place? As we reported at the time, the county committed $24.7 million in ARRA-funded Recovery Zone Facility Bonds to the project–a hefty encouragement. Solar supporter Governor Schwarzenegger says,
California has led the world in enacting policies that harness the sun, combat climate change and reduce our dependency on foreign oil, and it is companies like Solar Power, Inc. that are helping us reach a more sustainable, clean energy future.
Construction of the manufacturing facility should mean 120 jobs for the estimated nine months of building time, from July 2010 through early 2011. When the plant is on-line, it will employ 100 full-time workers and administrators. The McClellan Business Park is located to the southwest of McClellan Airport Base, just about 15 minutes up I-80 from downtown Sacramento. Solar Power CEO Steve Kircher is enthusiastic about the location of the new plant: “The site provides an excellent geographic location for us as we pursue a growing number of new business opportunities within California and across the country. It’s the right move at the right time for us.”
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